Motivating People

One of my friends called me the other day and spoke on my blog. He told me to write a series of articles on how to motivate people at work.  I have been struggling with this all through my life but thought that I will dedicate my next few postings to this topic.  Different people get motivated by different things at work.  Some want a good role, some want learning, some want money, some want convenient timings, some want lots of work, some want a living....and the list goes on and on.  It is very difficult to pinpoint any one particular motivator because each one of us could need a combination of some of the above.

Over the years, I have worked with so many people.  I believe that all human beings (whichever generation, whichever culture, whichever country they belong to) have four things in common: the need to belong – they need to be clear that they belong to an organization and a team; the need to be treated with respect; the need to understand the purpose of their job and their role; the need to be recognized and appreciated. If I am able to touch them positively on these four aspects, I will be accepted by them as their leader.

So, my learning has been that the first step to motivate people you work with is to show them that you are a human being first and then their manager/leader/colleague.  That you respect each one as a human being and not as what most organizations call them "human resources"....personally, I prefer the term "people capital" to "human resources".  The question then arises as to what should we do to be seen as a human being. This is so complex and yet so easy.  Just be honest and be yourself every time.  This is simple but very difficult to be.  Our complex corporate setting makes it so difficult to be honest and yourself.  You have to show that though you are a leader, you will make as many mistakes as anyone else.  That you are a flawed human being with all the vulnerabilities. If you show you are vulnerable, people appreciate that more than seeing you as "Fort Knox".

What has worked for me is being honest with my teams, communicating openly and through various channels and showing that I am a flawed human being.  While talking to staff, I give examples of the mistakes that I have done in life and that makes it easy for them understand that I have come up in life only after learning from so many mistakes.

It is also important to remember that you need to make your people feel that they are being treated as human beings.  I always believe in this saying: ‘They may not remember the words you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

More to come on this topic guys...happy reading and, as usual, send in those comments!!!